PAM. 

MISC. 


/ 


It  is,  indeed,  a  very  great  privilege  to  have  a  part  in  this  meet¬ 
ing,  which,  I  am  sure,  marks  an  era  in  the  history  of  our  Church. 
This  assembly  of  picked  men  is  an  index  of  a  strong  sentiment 
for  the  cause  of  missions  already  prevalent  among  us,  and  it  is 
the  promise  and  prophecy  of  still  greater  things  to  come.  It  is 
the  beginning  of  a  movement  which  looks  to  the  enlisting  of  the 
men  of  the  Church  in  the  great  work  of  foreign  missions,  and  it 
has  not  come  too  soon. 

When  I  have  visited  Roman  Catholic  Churches  in  Latin  Amer¬ 
ica,  the  services  of  which  are  attended  for  the  most  part  bv 
women  and  children  only,  I  have  often  asked  myself  the  question  ; 
“May  not  our  Protestant  Churches  in  the  United  States  fall  some 
day  into  the  same  conditioa  of  neglect  by  the  men  of  our  coun¬ 
try?’'  Two-thirds  of  the  membership  of  our  Churches  are  women 
and  girls.  A  very  large  per  cent  of  these  female  members  are 
interested  in  missions,  while  a  very  small  per  cent  of  the  men, 
a  minority  of  a  minority,  cares  for  this  great  interest.  If  we  are 
to  meet  the  “Day  of  Our  Opportunity,”  something  more  must 
be  done  than  can  be  accomplished  by  the  women  and  girls  and 
this  small  minority  of  the  men  of  the  Church.  What  we  have 
done  hitherto  in  the  matter  of  foreign  missions  has  been  through 
the  appeals  of  the  preachers  reenforced  by  the  missionary  soci¬ 
eties  of  the  women  and  the  juvenile  societies.  I  would  not  de¬ 
preciate  what  has  been  thus  accomplished.  Vast  and  blessed 
results  have  already  been  achieved.  But  no  merely  clerical  Chris¬ 
tianity  nor  juvenile  Christianity  nor  effeminate  Christianity  can 
meet  the  opportunity  which  confronts  the  Church  in  these  mo¬ 
mentous  times.  Our  “Day  of  Opportunity”  calls  loudly  for  a 
vigorous,  virile,  manful  Christianity.  In  considering  the  “Day 


♦Delivered  at  the  Laymen’s  Missionary  Conference,  Knoxville.  Tenn., 
October  i8,  1907. 


# 


2 


The  Day  of  Our  Opportunity. 

of  Our  Opportunity,”  it  will  be  well  to  remind  ourselves  of 
what  is  the  scriptural  conception  of  an  opportunity.  According' 
to  the  Scriptures,  an  opportunity  for  Christian  service  is  not 
measured  by  the  number  of  people  to  whom  one  is  called  to  speak. 
Our  Lord  found  very  great  opportunities  in  dealing  with  indi¬ 
vidual  souls,  as  in  the  case  of  Nicodemus  and  the  woman  of 
Samaria.  If  an  opportunity  is  measured  by  mere  numbers,  Paul 
lost  a  very  great  opportunity  when,  by  the  call  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
he  left  Asia,  where  multitudes  waited  to  hear  him,  and  went  to 
Europe,  where,  at  Philippi,  he  preached  only  to  Lydia  and  a  few 
women  by  the  riverside  and  the  jailer  and  his  household  in  the 
jail,  and  then  departed.  His  auditors  at  Philippi  were  few,  but 
his  opportunity  was  great.  The  conversion  of  Lydia  and  the 
jailer  was  the  beginning  of  Christianity  in  Europe,  and  Paul’s 
visit  there  meant  more  to  civilization  in  Europe  and  to  the  whole 
human  race  than  did  the  battle  between  the  Imperialists  and  Re¬ 
publicans  of  Rome,  which  was  fought  near  to  the  city  of  Philippi, 
and  which  Creasy  reckons  as  one  of  the  decisive  battles  of  his¬ 
tory. 

Again,  an  opportunity  is  not  measured  or  determined  by  the 
fact  that  a  given  situation  is  apparently  free  of  all  difficulties. 
The  apostle  to  the  Gentiles,  writing  of  one  place,  said :  “A  great 
and  effectual  door  is  open  to  us,  but  there  are  many  adversaries.” 
The  adversaries  were  there  because  the  door  was  open.  If  there 
had  been  no  open  door,  but  only  a  solid  wall,  before  the  apostle 
and  his  comrades,  the  spiritual  forces  of  evil  would  not  have 
needed  to  oppose  them  as  adversaries.  We  may  be  sure,  when 
a  good  man  or  a  faithful  Church  rises  up  to  do  a  great  work  for 
God,  the  devil  will  not  leave  them  without  adversaries  to  with¬ 
stand  their  efforts. 

Whether  the  company  to  which  we  speak  be  great  or  small, 
or  the  difficulties  be  many  or  few,  an  opportunity  is  at  hand  when 
one  is  where  God  wants  him  at  the  time  he  ought  to  be  there, 
and  is  doing  the  work  God  wants  him  to  do.  In  the  light  of  this 
definition  a  very  great  “Day  of  Opportunity”  confronts  evan¬ 
gelical  Christianity  just  now.  This  opportunity,  as  I  conceive  it, 
is  indicated  and  measured  by  two  great  facts.  The  first  of  these 
facts  is,  that  every  form  of  religion  among  men,  except  evan¬ 
gelical  Christianity,  has  proved  inadequate  to  meet  the  religious 
needs  of  mankind ;  and  the  second  fact  is,  that  evangelical  Chris¬ 
tianity  has  the  resources,  material  and  spiritual,  to  meet  these 
needs. 

Let  us  glance  at  the  religious  conditions  existing  now  in  the 


The  Day  of  Our  Opportunity. 


3 


various  countries  of  the  earth,  and  see  how  every  form  of  reli¬ 
gion,  except  evangelical  Christianity,  has  failed,  or  is  failing,  to 
meet  the  needs  of  the  people.  Let  us  begin  with  the  continent 
of  Europe.  In  the  British  Isles  the  forces  of  evangelical  Chris¬ 
tianity,  whether  within  the  Established  Church  or  among  the 
dissenting  bodies,  are  the  only  forces  which  are  speaking  with 
authority  and  power  to  the  British  nation.  On  the  Continent  the 
countries  of  Northern  Europe  are  dominated  largely  by  a  ra¬ 
tionalistic  Christianity,  broken  into  all  sorts  of  parties,  cold  as 
to  zeal  and  impotent  as  to  missionary  effort  and  enterprise.  In 
Russia  and  adjacent  states  the  Christianity  of  the  Greek  Church 
is  corroded  and  corrupted  by  all  manner  of  superstitions  and 
oppressions.  In  Southern  Europe,  where  Romanism  has  hith¬ 
erto  prevailed,  the  people  are  breaking  away  from  the  Church 
in  very  large  bodies.  Even  as  far  north  as  Austria,  there  is 
an  extensive  and  energetic  rebellion  against  the  authority  of  the 
Church  of  Rome.  In  the  old  papal  States  Romanism  is  a  waning 
force.  The  pope  counts  himself  a  prisoner  in  the  Vatican,  and 
popular  sentiment  in  Italy  shows  an  increasing  indifference,  not 
to  say  a  bitter  hostilit)%  to  the  religion  for  which  the  Vatican 
stands.  Even  Spain  and  Portugal,  cut  off  from  the  direct  in¬ 
fluence  of  the  Lutheran  Reformation  by  reason  of  their  geograph¬ 
ical  position  and  other  causes,  are  beginning  to  show  opf)Osition 
to  Romanism.  In  the  city  of  Barcelona,  particularly,  and  in  the 
region  of  Spain  influenced  by  that  city,  the  people  are  more  and 
more  assuming  a  Protestant,  if  not  an  evangelical,  attitude. 

What  of  conditions  in  the  Western  world,  the  two  Americas? 

In  those  lands  of  America  where  Romanism  has  hitherto  pre¬ 
vailed,  from  the  northernmost  point  of  Mexico  to  Tierra  del 
Fuego,  there  is  religious  ferment,  agitation,  and  disintegration. 
Romanism  can  nevermore  be  the  established  religion  of  those 
countries. 

In  Canada  and  the  United  States  evangelical  Christianity  is 
the  prevailing  type  of  religion.  Indeed,  in  these  lands  both  the 
Reformation  of  Luther  and  the  Wesleyan  Revival  are  being  car¬ 
ried  to  their  perfection.  Those  mighty  movements  of  former 
centuries  are  still  going  on  among  us  under  the  providence  of 
God.  The  Reformation  of  Luther  and  his  contemporaries  had 
but  small  effect  on  Southern  Europe,  but  now  a  vast  body  of 
immigrants  are  coming  from  Southern  Europe  to  America  and 
meeting  here  the  saving  influences  of  the  Lutheran  Reformation, 
raised  to  their  highest  power  by  the  added  force  of  the  Wesleyan 
Revival.  The  Wesleyan  Revival  found  it  easier  to  leap  across 


4 


The  Day  of  Our  Opportunity. 


the  Atlantic  Ocean  to  the  American  continent  than  to  pass  over 
the  English  Channel  or  the  German  Ocean  to  the  continent  of 
Europe;  and  just  because  the  Lutheran  Reformation  in  Northern 
Europe  never  reached  the  height  of  spirituality  and  powpr  at¬ 
tained  by  the  English-speaking  people  through  the  Wesleyan 
Revival,  the  Christianity  of  Northern  and  Central  Europe  has 
sunk  into  a  soulless  and  sinewless  rationalism.  Immigrants  to 
America  from  these  lands  of  Northern  and  Central  Europe  find 
in  the  Western  world  the  evangelical  Christianity  which  rescues 
them  from  rationalism  and  enrolls  them  among  those  evangelical 
forces  which  propose  the  conquest  of  the  world  for  Christ. 

Thus  we  see  from  this  hasty  review  of  Europe  and  America 
that  the  evangelical  Christianity  of  Great  Britain  and  the  United 
States  is  the  only  really  vital,  buoyant,  and  conquering  force  in 
Christendom.  It  was  a  very  significant  fact  that  in  the  great 
Missionary  Conference  which  met  in  the  city  of  New  York  in 
the  spring  of  the  year  1900  an  overwhelming  majority  of  the 
membership  was  from  the  possessions  of  Great  Britain  and  the 
United  States.  It  is  also  significant  that  of  the  twenty-one  mil¬ 
lions  of  dollars  which  were  contributed  last  year  to  the  cause 
of  foreign  missions  more  than  eighteen  millions  came  from 
Great  Britain  and  our  own  country. 

Let  us  now  pass  beyond  the  limits  of  what  is  commonly  called 
Christendom.  What  hope  for  the  race  does  Mohammedanism  hold 
forth?  The  religion  of  the  false  prophet  of  Arabia  is  no  longer 
progressive.  Strongly  organized  by  its  fatalistic  tendencies  and 
its  union  with  a  political  despotism,  it  might  be  expected  to  have 
some  power,  and  it  does  have  power ;  but  it  makes  no  progress, 
and  it  is  not  holding  its  own  in  the  lands  which  it  claims.  The 
government  of  Turkey  is  the  stronghold  of  Mohammedanism, 
and  we  call  the  “Unspeakable  Turk’’  the  “Sick  Man  of  the 
East.”  He  is  the  sick  man  of  the  East  because  his  heart  is  dis¬ 
eased  and  his  circulation  is  bad,  which  is  another  way  of  saying 
that  the  spiritual  forces  at  the  center  of  his  system  are  defiled 
and  enfevered. 

If  we  pass  on  to  India,  we  observe  the  ancient  faiths  there 
weary,  wasted,  and  ready  to  die. 

When  we  come  to  China,  somewhat  similar  conditions  meet  us. 
The  Chinese  are  a  proud  and  intellectual  people,  and  they  have 
reason  to  be  proud,  if  achievements  in  mere  philosophy  mark  the 
highest  height  to  which  human  nature  can  rise.  In  the  matter 
of  philosophy,  Confucius  and  those  who  have  come  after  him 
have  done  as  well  as  the  human  intellect  can  ever  be  expected 


The  Day  of  Our  Opportunity.  5 

to  do.  But  the  China  which  Confucianism,  Buddhism,  and  Tao¬ 
ism  have  made  has  been  weighed  in  the  balances  by  its  own 
people  and  found  wanting.  First  the  war  with  Japan  and  then 
the  war  between  Japan  and  Russia  forced  the  Chinese  people  to 
see  that  their  ancient  civilization  cannot  stand  the  stress  of  modern 
times.  And  for  this  cause  the  whole  nation  is  now  crying  out 
for  what  they  call  the  “Western  Learning.”  There  is  not  a  mis¬ 
sion  school  nor  any  other  school  in  all  China  which  can  give  any 
sort  of  show  of  ability  to  impart  the  “Western  Learning”  that  is 
not  crowded  with  pupils.  When  I  was  there,  a  year  ago,  the 
Buddhist  temples  in  many  places  were  being  converted  into  school- 
houses.  The  teacher,  and  not  the  Taoist  priest,  has  now  the  ear 
of  China.  Their  venerable  sage,  Confucius,  no  longer  commands 
the  esteem  which  his  teachings  enjoyed  in  former  times.  China 
stretches  out  her  hand  to  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States, 
calling  for  the  “Western  Learning,”  and  she  cannot  get  that 
learning  without  taking  with  it  the  Christianity  which  gave  it 
birth,  and  without  which  it  cannot  live  in  any  land.  What  a 
Day  of  Opportunity”  for  evangelical  Christianity  has  thus 
dawned  in  the  Celestial  Empire ! 

In  Japan  the  situation  is  somewhat  different.  Religious  con¬ 
ditions  there  as  to  their  ancient  faiths  and  the  Christianity  which 
is  come  into  the  land  are  about  the  same  as  prevailed  in  the 
Roman  Empire  during  the  years  preceding  the  reign  of  Con¬ 
stantine.  Heathenism  is  there,  of  course.  The  temples  of  Bud¬ 
dhism  are  still  standing,  and  shrines  of  Shintoism  are  found  in 
every  part  of  the  Japanese  Empire.  But  the  intellectual  classes 
of  the  Japanese  have  lost  all  faith  in  these  superstitious  systems, 
and  observe  their  rites  as  social  conveniences  or  political  ex¬ 
pedients,  knowing  them  to  be  without  divine  authority  and  with¬ 
out  moral  efficacy.  The  ancient  faiths  of  Japan  are  dying,  if 
not  dead,  and  nothing  can  restore  them  to  the  confidence  of  the 
people.  At  the  same  time  the  Japanese  people,  from  highest 
to  lowest,  are  eager  for  admission  to  the  family  of  nations  on 
terms  of  equality  with  the  most  enlightened  governments  of 
Christendom.  The  nation  is,  therefore,  very  sensitive  to  the 
public  opinion  of  Christendom.  Let  me  give  you  an  example: 
When  I  was  returning  from  China  our  ship  came  into  the  port 
of  Yokohama  one  afternoon  early  in  the  month  of  November. 
The  authorities  of  the  vessel  announced  that  we  would  remain 
m  port  about  thirty  hours,  and  so  we  went  ashore.  Among  the 
passengers  was  a  Japanese  youth  who  attached  himself  to  our 
circle  on  the  ship  mostly  because  he  was  learning  English  and 


6 


The  Day  of  Oiir  Opportunity. 

wanted  an  opportunity  to  practice  on  us,  I  think.  While  we  were 
in  port  the  Crown  Prince  paid  a  visit  to  the  city,  and  our  party 
went  to  the  railway  station  to  get  a  sight  of  him.  He  was  a 
very  good-looking  )oung  man,  dressed  about  as  any  gentleman 
in  our  country  would  be  attired  under  similar  circumstances, 
wearing  a  black  Prince  Albert  suit  and  a  silk  hat.  We  got  a 
good  view  of  him  and  returned  to  the  ship.  The  Japanese  youth 
soon  showed  great  eagerness  to  discover  our  opinions  concerning 
the  Prince.  He  maneuvered  a  great  deal  to  elicit  an  expression 
from  me,  and  my  reticence  was  as  fixed  as  his  curiosity  was  in¬ 
terrogative.  Finally  he  said  to  me  flatly What  do  you  think 
of  the  Prince?”  ”0,”  I  said,  “he  is  a  very  nice-looking  young 
man.  But,”  I  inquired,  “is  he  the  son  of  the  Empress?”  With 
my  question  his  countenance  fell ;  and  he  answered,  rather  hum¬ 
bly  :  “No,  I  am  sorry  to  say  he  is  not.  The  Emperor  has  several 
wives  besides  the  Empress.  The  Empress  is  childless,  and  the 
Crown  Prince  is  the  son  of  another.”  “Then,”  I  said,  “has  the 
Crown  Prince  more  than  one  wife?”  Instantly  his  Japanese 
pride  returned,  and  he  replied  with  great  emphasis:  O  no,  the 
last  Emperor  with  more  than  one  wife  is  now  on  the  throne  of 
Japan,  and  there  will  never  be  another.”  The  boy  was  not  a 
Christian,  but  he  reflected  the  enlightened  sentiment  of  his  people, 
which  is  penetrated  by  so  much  Christian  influence  that  polygamy 
is  doomed  in  Japan.  When  it  becomes  bad  form  at  the  court,  it 
will  be  abandoned  by  the  common  people.  And  so  also  many 
other  things  of  an  unchristian  sort  are  doomed  in  Japan.  The 
Japanese  are  drawn  toward  the  moral  and  religious  standards  of 
Christendom  by  that  national  pride  so  characteristic  of  them, 
and  which  is  at  once  both  a  curse  and  a  blessing  to  thern.  _  With 
all  their  vanity,  the  Japanese  were  never  so  open  to  Christian  in¬ 
fluence  ;  and  here  again  is  another  door  of  vast  opportunity. 

The  case  of  Korea  is  different  from  that  of  either  China  or 
Japan  There  is  nothing  like  it  in  any  nation  on  the  earth,  and 
there  never  was  anything  like  it.  It  is  the  case  of  a  broken¬ 
hearted  nation,  with  all  its  hopes  blasted,  turning  to  Christ  as 

its  last  friend.  v  r* 

(a)  The  nation  is  hopeless  as  to  material  prosperity.  It  has 

been  crushed  in  all  of  its  industries.  About  the  time  Columbus 
was  discovering  the  Western  world,  Hideyoshi,  who  is  called 
the  Napoleon  o"f  Jvipan,  invaded  Korea  and  carried  away  captive 
nearlv  all  of  its  artisans.  From  these  artisans  Japan  acquired 
her  profitable  arts  of  pottery,  sword-making,  and  the  like ;  while 
by  the  loss  of  them  Korea  was  greatly  impoverished.  This  Na- 


7 


The  Day  of  Our  Opportunity. 

poleon  of  Japan  not  only  carried  the  artisans  into  captivity,  but 
he  slew  with  cruel  hand  many  of  his  Korean  captives.  In  Kioto, 
the  old  capital  of  Japan,  there  is  a  granite  shaft  called  the  “Ear 
Monument,”  under  which  the  ears  of  thousands  of  Hideyoshi  s 
Korean  captives  are  buried,  the  bodies  having  been  cast  away 
elsewhere.  The  cruel  hand  of  Hideyoshi  was  scarcely  more 
heavy  in  its  blows  upon  Japanese  industry  than  were  the  hands  of 
Korea’s  own  ruling  classes.  There  is  a  process  in  the  Orient 
called  “squeezing,”  by  which  the  official  classes  enrich  them¬ 
selves  at  the  cost  of  the  industrial  classes.  This  “squeezing” 
process  has  prevailed  so  long  in  Korea  that  no  laborer  is  sure  of 
the  fruits  of  his  toil,  and  unrewarded  labor  sooner  or  later  ends 
in  listless  indolence  and  ambitionless  indifference. 

{h)  Korea  is  politically  hopeless.  The  nation  desired  first  of 
all  independence ;  if  it  might  not  have  that,  then  it  preferred  the 
suzerainty  of  China,  because  it  was  light  and  nominal ;  if  that 
might  not  be,  next  in  order  of  preference  it  desired  the  suzerainty 
of  Russia,  because  it  operated  at  great  distance.  The  last  thing 
in  the  world  the  Koreans  desired  was  the  protectorate  of  Japan, 
and  that  has  now  been  imposed  upon  them.  By  consequence 
the  people  feel  that  the  last  ray  of  hope  in  their  political  sky  has 
gone  out.  They  yielded  themselves  to  a  painful  despair. 

(c)  Korea  is  also  without  religious  hope.  In  olden  times 
Buddhism  was  the  religion  of  the  Koreans.  That  was  when 
the  capital  of  the  country  was  the  city  of  Songdo.  But  the 
Buddhist  priests  began  meddling  with  politics,  and  an  insurrec¬ 
tion  arose.  The  King  was  dethroned  and  the  Prime  Minister 
was  made  king  in  his  stead.  The  capital  was  moved  to  Seoul, 
and  it  was  ordained  that  no  Buddhist  priest  should  ever  put  his 
feet  into  that  city  as  long  as  the  sun,  moon,  and  stars  endured. 
Buddhism,  thus  exposed  to  popular  hatred  and  outlawed  at  the 
court,  almost  perished  from  the  land.  And  no  other  religion  took 
its  place.  The  Buddhism  of  Korea  for  several  centuries  has 
been  mainly  confined  to  monasteries  in  the  mountains  and  small 
temples  at  other  points  remote  from  the  great  populous  centers 
of  the  country.  To  some  of  these  mountain  monasteries  tired 
missionaries  go  for  rest  in  summer,  and  for  a  small  price  they 
are  permitted  to  preach  as  much  as  they  will  in  the  temples  at¬ 
tached  to  the  monasteries.  So  we  see  Korea  is  a  land  “without 
God  and  without  hope  in  the  world.”  Industrially,  politically, 
and  religiously  the  Koreans  are  a  despairing  and  broken-hearted 
people. 

This  is  the  impression  one  gathers  on  sight  of  a  Korean  con- 


8 


The  Day  of  Oiir  Opportunity. 

gregation.  I  shall  never  forget  my  first  experience  in  preaching 
in  Korea.  Our  party  reached  the  city  of  Seoul  on  a  Saturday 
afternoon  during  the  last  days  of  September,  1906.  I  agreed  to 
preach  at  a  chapel  in  the  eastern  part  of  the  city  on  the  next 
morning.  I  asked  my  old  friend  and  former  pupil,  Mr.  Yun,  to 
meet  me  at  the  chapel  on  Sunday  morning  and  act  as  my  inter¬ 
preter.  I  had  been  for  a  month  in  Japan,  observing  Japanese 
vanity  and  con'ceit,  and  doing  what  I  could  to  cure  that  evil 
spirit  and  to  establish  in  its  place  the  more  beautiful  spirit  of 
Christian  humility.  I  supposed  I  would  find  the  same  sort  of 
pride  in  the  Koreans ;  but  when  I  came  into  the  chapel  and  looked 
upon  the  crowded  congregation  there  assembled,  there  came  over 
me  the  impression  that  there  was  no  vanity  there,  that  a  broken¬ 
hearted  company  sat  before  me.  I  had  gone  prepared  to  preach 
a  sermon  designed  to  rebuke  intellectual  pride  and  to  induce  pov¬ 
erty  of  spirit  upon  the  part  of  any  who  sought  to  enter  the  king¬ 
dom  of  heaven ;  but  I  felt  constrained  to  change  my  theme.  My 
mind  turned  to  a  text  about  which  I  had  had  an  experience  in 
my  early  ministry.  In  the  summer  of  1875  I  preached  in  the 
presence  of  my  mother,  who  held  a  sort  of  Confucian  view  of 
parenthood  to" the  effect  that  the  authority  of  a  parent  never 
ended  while  life  lasted.  The  text  which  I  used  was  the  words 
of  the  Saviour:  “Come  unto  me,  all  ye  that  labor  and  are  heavy- 
laden,  and  I  will  give  you  rest.”  After  the  service  my  mother 
and  I  were  alone  together,  and  she  said  to  me  in  rather  man¬ 
datory  tones:  “Never  again  preach  on  that  text  until  you  can 
preach  from  it  more  tenderly.”  More  than  thirty  years  had 
passed  since  that  night  in  the  old  village  church  when  I  preached 
before  my  mother  and  the  day  when  I  looked  into  the  faces  of 
the  Koreans  in  the  chapel  at  Seoul,  and  in  all  that  time  I  had 
not  preached  on  the  text  quoted,  because  I  felt  I  could  not  preach 
it  as  tenderly  as  my  mother’s  command  required.  But  as  I  saw 
those  broken-hearted  people  the  thought  came  to  me:  “Now 
surely  I  can  discuss  that  text  with  tenderness,  for  what  else 
than  this  tender  invitation  of  Jesus  is  suitable  to  soothe  the  sor¬ 
row  of  this  broken-hearted  people?”  My  friend  Yun  inter¬ 
preted  for  me  the  sermon  T  undertook  to  preach,  and  as  the  dis¬ 
course  proceeded  his  heart  was  melted  and  he  began  to  weep,  so 
that  he  had  to  desist  from  interpreting.  Our  brother.  Rev.  W. 
G.  Cram,  took  Yun’s  place  as  interpreter,  for  Cram  is  one  of 
those  men  who  can  cry  and  talk  at  the  same  time.  With  tearful 
tenderness  he  told  the  Koreans  in  their  own  tongue  the  gracious 
truths  of  the  gospel,  which  I  could  only  speak  to  them  in  English. 


The  Day  of  Our  Opportunity. 


9 


The  whole  congregation  was  moved  to  tears.  I  never  saw  any¬ 
where  manifestations  of  deeper  emotion ;  and  when  the  sermon 
ceased,  spontaneously  they  fell  to  singing  the  Korean  version  of 
the  beautiful  hymn,  “What  a  Friend  We  Have  in  Jesus!”  After 
that  service  I  preached  to  them  at  several  points,  in  both  the 
cities  of  Songdo  and  Seoul,  but  I  was  never  able  while  preaching 
in  Korea  to  get  away  from  the  solacing  subjects  contained  in 
the  gospel  of  Christ.  Most  of  my  texts  were  taken  from  the 
fourteenth  chapter  of  John,  such  as :  “Let  not  your  heart  be 
troubled :  ye  believe  in  God,  believe  also  in  me,”  etc. 

From  what  I  have  said  you  will  gather  the  truth  that  this 
broken-hearted  people  look  to  Christianity  as  to  the  last  hope  left 
them.  How  can  we  disappoint  such  a  pathetic  longing  for  Christ 
and  his  salvation?  Where  is  there  a  wider  opportunity  in  all 
the  earth,  or  one  which  calls  to  us  with  such  constraining  pathos? 

Not  since  the  days  of  the  apostles,  if  then,  has  Christianity  won 
such  rapid  and  extensive  victories  as  its  recent  triumphs  in 
Korea.  During  the  year  1906  the  comparatively  small  missionary 
forces  which  the  evangelical  Churches  have  stationed  in  that 
land  of  the  Morning  Calm  have  won  nearly,  or  quite,  fifty  thou¬ 
sand  converts. 

We  have  now  run  rapidly  over  religious  conditions  and  needs 
in  most  of  the  lands  of  the  earth,  and  wherever  we  have  looked 
we  have  found  all  faiths  failing  except  evangelical  Christianity. 
If  this  great  force  is  not  equal  to  the  needs  of  mankind,  there  is 
no  religious  hope  for  the  race.  If  it  shall  falter  and  fail  in  its 
efforts  to  redeem  the  world,  the  world’s  redemption  must  be 
given  up  as  a  vain  hope  and  a  futile  plan.  But  the  world’s  re¬ 
demption  cannot  be  given  up.  Evangelical  Christianity  is  equal 
to  the  needs  of  the  world’s  woe. 

In  the  first  place,  the  nations  in  which  evangelical  Christianity 
is  the  prevalent  faith  have  the  wealth  of  the  world  in  their  pos¬ 
session.  They  have  the  material  resources  required  for  the  re- 
ligious_  conquest  of  the  earth.  Last  year  the  American  people 
by  their  tax  returns  claimed  to  possess  more  than  one  hundred 
billions  of  taxable  property,  and  we  may  be  sure  they  did  not 
overestimate  the  value  of  their  possessions  when  they  made  re¬ 
turns  of  what  they  owned  to  the  taxing  officers  of  the  country. 

Great  Britain,  that  other  nation  in  which  evangelical  Chris¬ 
tianity  is  the  prevailing  faith,  has  scarcely  less  of  this  world’s 
goods  than  we  have.  Together  the  two  nations  are  able  to  buy 
all  the  rest  of  the  property  in  this  earth. 

Is  it  an  accident  that  these  vast  accumulations,  this  enormous 


10 


The  Day  of  Oiir  Opportunity. 

stored  power,  have  been  given  by  Providence  to  these  nations  in 
which  evangelical  Christianity  most  prevails?  Has  not  this  un¬ 
paralleled  wealth  been  given  to  these  mighty  peoples  to  equip 
them  to  meet  an  unprecedented  opportunity  ?  Have  they  not  been 
enriched  in  purse  that  they  may  have  the  resources  by  which  to 
enrich  all  mankind  in  piety?  Are  they  not  two  great  armies 
which  the  Captain  of  our  salvation  has  victualed  for  a  world¬ 
wide  campaign  to  rescue  from  death  an  imperiled  race  ? 

But  money  is  not  all  that  is  needed  for  the  work  of  missions. 
Evangelical  Christianity  has  something  more  and  better  than 
money  to  qualify  it  for  this  work.  It  is  a  glad  and  songful  faith, 
and  no  songless  or  sad  faith  can  ever  make  a  conquest  of  the 
world.  Only  a  cheerful  and  buoyant  faith,  that  hopeth  all  things, 
will  have  patience  and  courage  enough  for  so  mighty  a  task. 

Furthermore,  the  doctrines  of  evangelical  Christianity,  capa¬ 
ble  as  they  are  of  being  known  in  a  saving  experience  of  grace, 
are  the  only  truths  which  can  find  universal  acceptance  among  all 
classes  in  all  lands.  Ritualism  is  a  local  thing,  and  cannot  pro¬ 
ceed  far  in  any  direction  without  traveling  beyond  the  area  in 
which  it  is  impressive  and  reaching  a  point  where  it  is  only 
grotesque  and  curious.  It  yields  quickly  to  superstition,  even 
when  it  maintains  its  purest  forms.  Rationalism  is  a  restless 
and  transient  thing,  forever  learning  and  never  able  to  come  to 
the  knowledge  of  that  truth  which  truly  reveals  the  unchanging 
God  and  authoritatively  commands  the  adhesion  of  mankind  with 
its  unchanging  wants  and  ancient  woes.  But  evangelical  Chris¬ 
tianity,  with  its  doctrines  of  experimental  religion,  is  at  home  in 
all  lands  and  powerful  in  all  times.  It  can  never  be  local  or 
transient,  for  it  ministers  to  the  universal  wants  of  man  and  speaks 
eternal  truths.  This  is  what  is  implied  in  the  memorable  words 
of  the  Master  to  St.  Peter  and  the  other  disciples  at  Cesarea 
Philippi.  When  the  son  of  Jonas  had  confessed  that  he  was  “the 
Christ,  the  Son  of  the  Living  God,”  our  Lord  warmly  responded : 
“Blessed  art  thou,  Simon  Bar-jona :  for  flesh  and  blood  hath  not 
revealed  it  unto  thee,  but  my  Father  which  is  in  heaven.  .  .  .  And 
upon  this  rock  I  will  build  my  church ;  and  the  gates  of  hell  shall 
not  prevail  against  it.”  By  these  sublime  words  the  Master  did 
not  teach,  as  the  Romanists  claim,  that  the  Church  is  founded  on 
the  primacy  of  Peter,  nor  did  he  teach,  as  some  Protestants  aver, 
that  the  foundation  of  the  Church  rests  on  the  abstract  doctrine 
of  his  divinity.  What  he  taught  is  that  the  perpetuity  of  the 
Church  arises  from  that  spiritual  life  which  springs  from  heaven- 
born  faith  in  him,  not  originating  in  the  processes  of  flesh  and 


11 


The  Day  of  Our  Opportunity. 

blood,  but  in  the  direct  revelation  of  the  Divine  Father  to  the 
human  soul.  It  is  interesting  to  observe  that  when  that  great 
saying  of  our  Lord  had  been  wrested  from  its  true  meaning,  al¬ 
most  to  the  overthrow  of  a  pure  Christianity  by  the  Roman 
hierarchy,  a  personal  and  living  experience  of  the  truth  upon 
the  part  of  Martin  Luther  and  the  reformers  saved  the  Church 
from  death  and  vindicated  anew  the  confident  prediction  of  our 
Lord  concerning  its  perpetuity.  It  was  this  evangelical  and 
experimental  religion  which  brought  new  life  to  the  English- 
speaking  world  in  Wesley’s  time,  when  faith  apparently  lay 
a-dying.  In  the  same  form  of  Christianity  the  whole  world  of 
to-day  must  find  its  salvation  and  hope. 

Again,  no  form  of  religion  which  does  not  realize  daily  the 
personal  presence  of  a  living  Lord  can  be  equal  to  the  evan¬ 
gelization  of  the  earth.  So  great  a  task  exceeds  the  natural 
powers  of  man,  and  nothing  but  the  assurance  of  the  present  and 
constant  aid  of  a  superhuman  Leader  will  induce  men  to  prose¬ 
cute  such  a  mighty  work  to  its  ultimate  culmination. 

When  Joshua,  the  successor  of  Moses,  led  Israel  across  the 
Jordan  and  stood  beneath  the  shadow  of  the  walls  of  Jericho, 
he  would  not  have  dared  the  siege  of  that  city  except  the  en¬ 
couraging  vision  of  the  Lord  had  met  him.  Then  it  was  the 
new  leader  of  Israel  met  One  who  gave  him  to  understand 
that  he  was  only  a  subordinate  in  that  bold  invasion  of  Canaan, 
saying  unto  him:  “As  captain  of  the  host  of  the  Lord  am  I  now 
come.”  In  this  vision  Joshua  saw  the  Lord  himself  taking  com¬ 
mand  of  the  forces  of  Israel,  and  with  such  a  superior  Leader  he 
felt  that  failure  was  impossible. 

When  the  apostle  Paul  plunged  into  the  deep,  dark  heathenism 
of  the  first  century,  without  a  mission  board  behind  him,  or  even 
a  sympathetic  Church,  his  courage  was  constantly  renewed  by 
visions  of  the  risen  Lord.  “He  endured,  as  seeing  him  who  is 
invisible.” 

In  the  same  manner  to-day  must  the  great  missionary  enter¬ 
prise  be  carried  on.  No  form  of  Christianity  except  that  whose 
adherents  live  in  daily  touch  with  the  living  Christ  can  by  any 
possibility  be  equal  to  this  work.  No  second-hand  Christianity 
imparted  by  the  touch  of  sacerdotal  fingers,  no  rationalistic  Chris¬ 
tianity  blinded  and  hesitant,  can  do  this  work;  only  that  clear¬ 
eyed  faith  which  finds  in  its  daily  life  the  fulfillment  of  the  word, 
“Lo,  I  am  with  you  always,”  will  dare  and  do  what  this  great 
“Day  of  Opportunity”  calls  for. 

T  hope  I  shall  not  be  accused  of  bigotry  if  I  say  that,  of  all 


12 


The  Day  of  Our  Opportunity. 

forms  of  evangelical  Christianity,  Methodism  is  best  adapted  to 
this  great  work.  Not  in  narrow  sectarianism,  but  in  honest  sin¬ 
cerity,  I  venture  to  affirm  so.  I  am  very  catholic  in  my  senti¬ 
ments.  I  have  to  be;  I  have  one  brother  who  is  a  Baptist,  three 
brothers  who  are  Presbyterians,  two  brothers  who  are  Methodists, 
one  sister  who  is  a  Baptist,  another  who  is  a  Presbyterian,  and 
another  who  is  a  Methodist.  So,  you  see,  catholicity  of  spirit 
is  a  household  necessity  with  me.  But  I  cultivate  it  not  alone 
as  a  domestic  expedient  for  peace,  but  as  an  essential  element  of 
Christian  character.  Notwithstanding  I  thus  cultivate  a  cath¬ 
olic  spirit,  I  am  not  the  less  persuaded  that  Methodism  is  the 
best  type  of  Christianity  for  making  the  conquest  of  the  world. 
And  my  reasons  for  so  believing  are  plain  and  conclusive. 

In  the  first  place,  Methodism  proclaims  a  doctrine  of  atone¬ 
ment  which  provides  for  the  salvation  of  all  men;  it  believes  that 
the  redemption  which  is  in  Jesus  Christ  is  for  all,  and  that  our 
Saviour  “tasted  death  for  every  man.”  No  narrow  creed  that 
proposes  the  salvation  of  a  part  only  of  the  world  can  hope  to 
take  the  whole  world  for  Christ.  It  may  be  very  busy  seeking 
the  elect,  but  it  will  fall  very  far  short  of  saving  the  lost. 

Then,  again,  the  policy  of  Methodism  is  adapted  to  the  work 
of  saving  the  world.  Its  preachers  do  not  wait  to  be  called,  but 
go  quickly  where  they  are  sent.  There  is  a  great  difference  be¬ 
tween  a  called  ministry  and  a  sent  ministry.  Nineveh  would 
have  been  a  long  time  calling  Jonah,  and  Jonah  would  have  been 
a  long  time  accepting  such  a  call  if  the  Church  at  Nineveh  had 
sent  it  to  him.  The  prophet  was  greatly  needed  in  that  wicked 
city,  but  he  was  not  wanted. 

And,  furthermore,  the  Methodist  preacher  who  may  be  sent 
anywhere,  and  who  I  hope  will  sooner  or  later  be  found  every¬ 
where,  goes  forth,  not  as  a  priest  speaking  a  word  of  human 
absolution  to  men,  but  as  an  evangelist  calling  men  to  that 
knowledge  of  God  and  assurance  of  salvation  which  is  found  in 
what  we  call  “the  witness  of  the  Spirit.”  Do  you  know  that 
doctrine  had  been  lost  sight  of  and  was  almost  unrecognized 
when  Wesley  came?  When  he  claimed  to  have  experienced  the 
witness  of  the  Spirit  and  began  preaching  that  great  truth,  so 
devout  a  woman  as  his  own  saintly  mother  became  alarmed. 
She  wrote  him  a  word  of  warning,  which  ran  somewhat  on  this 
wise:  “Dear  Jackey:  Beware  how  you  preach  that  doctrine  and 
claim  that  experience.  My  understanding  has  always  been  that 
it  is  a  peculiar  experience,  reserved  for  bishops  and  venerable 
saints  about  to  die.”  But  John  Wesley,  who  in  Aldersgate 


13 


The  Day  of  Our  Opportunity. 

Street  had  felt  his  “heart  strangely  warmed,”  disregarded  the 
misguided  caution  of  his  mother,  and  sounded  forth  anew  among 
men  the  apostolic  truth  that  no  human  parent  can  speak  more 
directly  to  a  child  that  our  Father  in  heaven  can  speak  the 
word  of  forgiveness  and  assurance  to  a  penitent  and  trustful 
soul.  All  the  world  now  knows,  wherever  evangelical  Chris¬ 
tianity  is  preached,  whether  proclaimed  by  Methodists  or  others, 
that  every  child  of  God  knows  his  Father  in  heaven,  not  by  a 
message  from  priestly  lips,  but  by  the  direct  word  of  the  eternal 
Spirit  to  the  human  heart. 

It  is  this  sure  knowledge  of  God  which  mystified  India  needs, 
which  cold,  philosophic  China  trusts  for,  which  Japan,  fevered 
with  vanity  and  faithlessness,  requires,  which  Mohammedan 
lands,  manacled  with  fatalism,  hunger  for — which  the^  whole 
world  must  have  or  perish.  And  it  is  our  business  to  give  this 
knowledge  of  God  to  all  who  have  it  not,  and  this  great  business 
of  carrying  this  gospel  to  the  ends  of  the  earth  must  be  under¬ 
taken  in  an  earnest,  dignified,  and  businesslike  way.  It  cannot 
be  carried  on  successfuily  and  properly  in  any  other  manner. 

As  I  intimated  in  the  outset,  my  brethren,  I  am  afraid  our 
Christianity  has,  in  the  matter  of  its  practical  enterprises,  been 
too  effeminate.  I  beg  pardon  of  the  ladies  for  the  use  of  that 
word,  but  it  is  the  best  I  can  now  think  of  to  describe  what  is 
in  my  mind.  We  have  too  many  effeminate  rhetorical  essays 
from  the  pulpit,  and  our  Church  music  is  often  of  a  sort  that 
suggests  a  light,  artistic  musicale,  rather  than  the  adoring  praise 
of  the  eternal  God.  Earnest  men  who  have  been  dealing  with 
great  political  issues  or  great  commercial  enterprises,  whose  ears 
are  accustomed  to  stern"  war  cries,  can  never  be  commanded  by 
services  in  which  such  things  predominate. 

And  in  our  financial  methods  we  often  adopt  expedients  equally 
effeminate.  A  sum  of  money  is  needed  for  a  given  enterprise  of 
the  Ghurch,  and  forthwith  we  encourage  the  women  of  the 
Church  to  give  an  “oyster  supper”  or  a  “strawberry  festival”  to 
raise  the  amount  required.  Such  methods  belittle  the  cause  of 
Christ.  I  do  not  blame  the  women.  They  resort  to  this  be¬ 
cause  they  know  not  what  else  to  do  when  the  men  refuse  to  give 
the  money  which  is  required  to  carry  on  the  work  of  the  Church. 
But,  depend  upon  it,  our  Christianity  can  never  command  the 
serious  attention  of  business  men  when  it  is  supported  by  such 
peddling  devices.  What  does  a  banker  think  of  Christianitv 
when  he  comes  home  after  a  day’s  work  in  which  he  has  dealt 
with  enterprises  involving  hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars  and 


14 


The  Day  of  Our  Opportunity. 


finds  his  Christian  wife  and  daughter  trying  to  raise  some  mis¬ 
sionary  money  by  peddling  on  a  lawn  three  oysters  for  a  quarter 
or  a  tablespoonful  of  ice  cream  and  strawberries  for  fifteen 
cents? 

And  the  impression  made  upon  the  unconverted  is  scarcely 
less  hurtful  when  in  the  great  congregation  they  hear  a  timid, 
faithless,  and  half-hearted  preacher  apologizing' for  taking  his 
collection  for  foreign  missions.  How  often  have  we  heard  the 
pastor  of  a  large  and  wealthy  congregation  address  them  thus: 
“Brethren,  I  have  come  to-day  to  take  my  collection  for  foreign 
missions.  It  is  a  part  of  my  duty,  you  know,  under  the  Disci¬ 
pline.  I  am  sorry  the  district  stewards  have  assessed  our  Church 
more  than  its  share,  but  we  must  try  to  raise  it!”  That  sort  of 
apologetic  presentation  of  so  great  a  cause  is  a  reproach  to  the 
Church  and  an  offense  to  God.  Often  the  smallness  of  the 
amount  for  which  we  ask  to  carry  on  this  tremendous  work  is 
a  surprise  to  men  accustomed  to  large  figures  in  business.  They 
cannot  possibly  understand  how  a  world-wide  campaign  can  be 
projected  on  a  two-penny  basis.  If  a  man  were  to  ask  me  to 
give  him  twenty-five  cents  to  buy  a  horse,  I  would  not  do  it,  be¬ 
cause  I  know  no  such  sum  will  pay  any  appreciable  part  of  the 
price  of  a  horse.  I  would  rather  give  him  twenty-five  dollars 
for  such  a  purpose  than  to  give  him  twenty-five  cents.  And  many 
a  business  man  will  hear  an  appeal  for  a  hundred  dollars  for 
the  cause  of  missions  who  would  be  utterly  indifferent  to  a 
request  for  one  dollar.  He  argues,  and  argues  correctly,  that 
the  Church  cannot  do  such  a  work  with  such  a  sum,  and  that 
if  such  a  cause  needs  only  one  dollar  from  him  it  can  probably 
get  on  without  that.  Our  preachers  should  learn  to  make  ap¬ 
peals  for  amounts  commensurate  with  the  cause,  and  they  should 
press  these  appeals  with  a  courage  and  confidence  worthy  of  the 
Christianity  they  profess.  Let  them  not  come  to  the  pulpit  with 
apologies  upon  their  lips,  but  rather  let  them  come  speaking 
authoritatively,  saying  to  the  owners  of  hoarded  treasure:  “The 
Lord  hath  need.”  Let  them  put  this  great  cause  upon  no  lower 
basis  than  that  it  is  the  will  of  God  concerning  us,  and  that  it 
is  a  high  privilege  to  do  the  will  of  God. 

We  want  no  appeals  to  sectarian  ambition  or  ecclesiastical 
pride.  Sometimes  we  hear  it  said  from  the  pulpit :  “Our  Church 
must  enter  this  field  or  occupy  that  station  because  if  we  do  not 
some  other  Church  will.”  Such  a  consideration  is  not  proper 
ground  for  our  entering  any  place  whatsoever.  If  any  other 
Church  could  save  the  world  or  any  part  of  the  world  without 


15 


The  Day  of  Our  Opportunity. 

our  aid,  by  all  means  let  us  bid  such  a  Church  Godspeed.  Let 
us  base  our  appeals  for  doing  this  work  on  the  higher  and  truer 
ground  that  without  our  efforts  the  salvation  of  the  world  will 
be  delayed,  if  not  prevented. 

I  am  glad  to  bave  before  me  a  company  of  men  to  whom  I  can 
speak  thus  plainly  without  giving  offense.  You  are  picked  men, 
and  you  will  not  misunderstand  me.  I  pray  you  go  back  home, 
and  by  both  your  precept  and  example  tell  our  preachers  and 
our  people  that  the  Lord’s  business  must  henceforth  be  conducted 
in  a  nobler  fashion.  Tell  them  that  an  enterprise  projected  to 
lift  into  light  the  whole  world  that  lieth  in  darkness  calls  for  the 
highest  self-sacrifice.  And  tell  them  also  that  our  welfare,  as 
well  as  our  duty,  is  involved.  This  whole  world  must  soon  be 
all  pagan  or  all  Christian.  The  ends  of  the  earth  have  been 
brought  together  by  the  modern  inventions  of  transportation  and 
communication.  When  Mr.  Jefferson  was  President  of  the  Unit¬ 
ed  States  he  put  forth  the  idea,  which  Mr.  Lincoln  subsequently 
more  fully  elaborated,  to  the  effect  that  our  country  must  sooner 
or  later  be  all  free  soil  or  all  slave  territory.  At  that  time  the 
proposition  was  doubted  and  debated  ;  but  in  the  end  we  have  seen 
that  it  was  absolutely  sound,  and  that  the  result  was  inevitable. 
I  say  to  you  now  that  the  whole  earth  must  soon  be  all  Christian 
or  all  anti-Christian.  Peking,  China,  is  to  all  intents  and  pur¬ 
poses  nearer  to  Washington  City  now  than  was  New  Orleans 
when  Mr.  Jefferson  was  President.  Indeed,  you  know  that 
General  Jackson  and  General  Pakenham  fought  the  battle  of 
New  Orleans  after  the  War  of  1812  was  over.  The  treaty  of 
peace  between  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain  had  been 
signed  some  days  before  the  belligerents  met  in  deadly  conflict 
near  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi.  Both  of  them  were  too  far 
away  from  the  seats  of  their  governments  to  be  informed  that 
the  war  was  over,  and  so  they  fought  a  bloody  battle  in  time 
of  peace.  But  when  the  battles  of  the  allies  were  fought  a  few 
years  ago  before  the  walls  of  Peking,  you  knew  in  Knoxville  in 
the  evening  the  results  of  the  fighting  in  the  forenoon.  This  will 
show  you  how  close  now  are  all  lands  to  each  other.  All  nations 
are  now  neighbors;  there  is  no  “Far  East.”  When  I  went  out 
to  the  Orient  last  year,  I  sailed  from  Seattle  on  the  afternoon  of 
July  25,  and  I  ate  my  breakfast  in  Yokohama  on  the  morning  of 
August  8.  It  required  less  time  for  me  to  go  from  our  Pacific 
Coast  to  Japan  than  my  father  consumed  in  going  from  our  home 
in  Georgia  to  my  uncle’s  residence  in  Louisiana  in  1855.  It  is 
impossible  that  with  the  nations  thus  close  together  the  moral 


i6 


The  Day  of  Our  Opportunity. 


conditions  of  mankind  shall  not  soon  become  uniform  throughout 
the  earth.  This  missionary  campaign  is,  therefore,  not  only  a 
warfare  to  rescue  the  benighted  heathen,  but  for  the  protection 
of  the  whole  earth,  including  our  own  land,  against  the  powers 
of  darkness.  The  “Day  of  Our  Opportunity”  is  nothing  less 
than  the  day  of  salvation  for  the  race.  But  “the  night  cometh 
when  no  man  can  work.”  The  issues  involved  are  so  great  that 
no  sacrifice  can  be  made  that  will  be  greater  than  the  cause  justi¬ 
fies  and  demands.  Let  us  realize  this  truth.  Our  people  know 
how  to  make  sacrifices.  For  sectional  interests  and  political  ends 
they  made  without  hesitation  the  greatest  sacrifices  of  both  blood 
and  treasure  in  the  late  Civil  War.  It  is  war  time  in  the  king¬ 
dom  of  Christ  now — war  time  full  of  opportunity  for  victory  and 
not  without  chance  of  defeat.  With  the  Captain  of  our  salvation 
going  before  us,  and  with  his  blessing  resting  upon  us,  we  may 
take  this  whole  world  for  Christ ;  or,  faithless  to  him,  for¬ 
feiting  his  favor  by  fostering  our  selfishness,  we  may  lose  the 
day,  and  a  darkness  settle  on  the  earth  that  can  never  be  lifted. 
The  alternatives  are  plainly  before  us.  We  must  have  done  with 
selfishness  and  live  lives  of  self-sacrifice.  We  must  have  done 
with  littleness  and  lay  hold  of  great  things.  We  must  crucify 
our  lust  and  deify  our  Lord,  or  we  will  deify  our  lust  and  crucify 
our  Lord. 


Board  of  Missions  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  Nashville,  Tenn. 


